May 15, 2026
Hidden in Color: Treatment and Scientific Analysis of a 1960s Painted Wood Construction by Irwin Rubin
Victoria Kitirattragarn lectures on her restoration of Irwin Rubin's 1966 Untitled Construction as part pf the Buffalo State University Garman Art Conservation Department's Class of 2027 Masters Presentations. Watch the 20 minute video
2024-2025
New Acquisitions: Buffalo AKG Art Museum
Buffalo AKG Art Museum acquires three painted wood constructions by Irwin Rubin
Construction #23, 1962; Untitled Construction, 1964; and Untitled Construction, 1966 are now part of the Buffalo AKG Art Museum's permanent collection, where they are ongoing conservation treatment in partnership with Buffalo State University's Patricia H. and Richard E. Garman Art Conservation Department
June 10, 2025
Reappearing Acts: Missing Colors and New Connections in the Irwin Rubin Papers
Artist Carmelle Safdie shares a remembrance of her teacher Irwin Rubin and an exploration of his papers on the Smithsonian Archives of American Art blog
April 21, 2025
A Finding Aid for the Irwin Rubin Papers
The Smithsonian Archives of American Art has published a Finding Aid, prepared by Anna Rimel, for the Irwin Rubin Papers
Here you will find biographical information alongside an itemized list of contents in Rubin’s papers. Folders may be requested for viewing in the Washington DC Reading Room for free, or as digital reproductions for a small fee. Access Online or Download PDF
October, 2024
Teaching Color, One Pigment at a Time by Steven Heller, Print Mag
Irwin Rubin on The Daily Heller, October 21, 2024, featuring an interview with Carmelle Safdie on Rubin's studies with Josef Albers at Yale, the foundation Color class he taught at Cooper Union for almost three decades, and the act of rediscovering his work through archival research
October, 2024
Solo Exhibition — Irwin Rubin: '60s Polychrome, October 1-24 @ SVA NYC
Irwin Rubin: '60s Polychrome opens at SVA's Flatiron Project Space, 133 W21 Street, on October 1, 2024. This exhibition of painted wood constructions and collages marks the first time Rubin’s works are on public view since the 1960s, and will be accompanied by an exhibition catalog co-authored by Carmelle Safdie and Robert Wiesenberger. Continue reading...
November, 2023
Smithsonian Archives of American Art Acquires the Irwin Rubin Papers
The collection documents Rubin's work as an artist and educator through biographical material, personal and professional correspondence, writings, interviews, business records, gallery and exhibition files, photographic material, and artwork — including two sketchbooks from the mid 1950s. A detailed finding aid will be made available on the Archives of American Art website in the next 18 months.
August-October, 2023
Color at Cooper Exhibition
The exhibition Color at Cooper, curated by Art and Architecture Librarian Mackenzie Williams, and Archives Librarian Mary Mann, takes an interdisciplinary look at color pedagogy throughout Cooper Union history.
November, 2022
Constructing the Miniature Museum: from the Irwin Rubin Archive
Check out Irwin Rubin Archivist, Carmelle Safdie's article Constructing the Miniature Museum: from the Irwin Rubin Archive featured on The Spaces Archives blog, to learn about Rubin's unfinished miniature museum.
The scaled-down museum, which Rubin worked towards in the last decade of his life, united his interests in art and architecture alongside his far-ranging passion as a collector of global artifacts from antiquity to the present.
May, 2022
New Acquisition — Green-Wood Historic Fund Collections
We are very happy to let you know that two artworks by Irwin Rubin have have been acquired by the Green-Wood Historic Fund Collections
Rubin's 1964 "Construction #31," and 1966 "Collage #6," have entered into Green-Wood's growing collection of artwork by artists who are interred at the cemetery.
May, 2021
Newly Restored Works from the Yale University Art Gallery Collection
We are excited to share that the Yale University Art Gallery has recently restored and digitized four works by Irwin Rubin held in their permanent collection.
These works were collected by Richard Brown Baker (1912-2002) from 1960-1964 and left to the Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT, in 2008. We are extremely grateful for YUAG's conservation efforts, and for the beautiful images of Rubin's constructions and collage that are now available publicly through their online database. We have also added the works to our online archive
November, 2021
Online Conversation, "Relational Archiving: Color Theory and Memory" at SALT, Istanbul
Irwin Rubin Archivist Carmelle Safdie discussed archiving as an act of care with Sena Başöz at SALT Online
As part of SALT’s Study Groups, Sena Başöz invites New York-based artist Carmelle Safdie to discuss her recent involvement with two inherited archives, their relation to her broader artistic output, as well as ways to reimagine conventional archiving through Josef Albers’ theory of Color Relativity.
October, 2020
Website Launch
Announcing the Irwin Rubin Archive and our home at www.irwinrubin.com
The Irwin Rubin Archive was founded in 2019 with the purpose of preserving Irwin Rubin's artwork and teachings. Rubin (1930-2006) was an American artist and educator. Our goals are to locate, catalog, and conserve artworks by Irwin Rubin, as well as to document and archive his influence and legacy as a teacher.
November, 2019
Irwin S. Channin School of Architecture Archive’s Student Work Collection
Irwin Rubin's Freehand Drawing course is now represented in the Cooper Union Irwin S. Channin School of Architecture Archive’s Student Work Collection. This free online database is an amazing resource and features digitized work by Cooper Union Architecture students from the 1930s to the present.